Katadyn Micropur MP1 Review

The 4-hour recommended treatment time for this product was a huge turn-off. We believe that the reason the time is so long is to effectively kill hard-sided protozoa that are difficult to kill. We think it is more effective to filter this out versus try to kill it in a backcountry setting when you are thirsty!

Performance Comparison

Reliability/Effectiveness

The only thing this product won't get out of your water is particulate or dirt. It will eventually kill everything that is harmful in your water, but it won't make it look good if there is a lot of silt or matter in your water. It is effective against Bacteria, viruses, and protozoa including cryptosporidium - but must be in your water for 4 hours to get out the last contaminate. If you're in a country where you're worried about viruses this could be a good option. If you're in North America you should consider a filter like the Sawyer Squeeze or MSR TrailShot that will quickly rid you of crypto and viruses are not present.

Ease of Use

Micropur MP1 is very easy to use; just take the tablet out of the package, drop it in a liter of water and wait! Katadyn recommends storing your water in an opaque container in a dark place if possible. This is easier to use than some of our pump filters like the MSR Trailshot. We think the gravity filter models in our review, like the Platypus GravityWorks, are as easy to use, just fill a bag and hook up the hose, and a great choice for groups.

Weight

Weighing in at under an ounce for all 30 tablets this product's weight can't be beaten! This is an easy thing to throw in your emergency preparedness kit in case of some kind of disaster where water may be questionable.

Treatment Capacity

The difficulty with tablets like Micropur and MSR Aquatabs is that they have a set amount of water each tablet can treat. This makes it difficult to treat larger and odd quantities. We prefer liquid treatment like the Aquamira Water Treatment Drops to more easily adjust for different volumes of water. A package of Micropur tablets will only treat 30 liters total, whereas the Sawyer Mini can treat up to 100,000 gallons!

Speed

As we've alluded to, the Katadyn Micropur MP1 take an extremely long time to effectively treat all contaminants. We suspect you could wait less time if you were not concerned about cryptosporidium but it is virtually impossible to know if the water source you're drinking from is contaminated with it or not.

Best Application

Micropur is best used as a backup emergency purification method. It is comforting to know that you have something like this in your kit, but not practical to wait around for 4 hours for it to work. We would not recommend this as a backpacking purification method. Instead, we'd recommend a gravity filter unit or something like the Sawyer Mini for a personal filtration system that will do the trick if you're traveling in North America.

Value

These are the best value chlorine dioxide tablets on the market in their 30 tablet quantity, which is why we included this product in this review. Retailing for $15 that works out to .50 cents per tab. This is nowhere as good a value as the other products in this review that can treat thousands of liters.

Conclusion

Throw these in your prepper kit and forget about them. They will kill all the contaminants in your water if you are in some kind of natural disaster. We would not recommend this product for your backcountry water treatment needs, instead, we'd point you towards a more conventional filter. A filter will treat a greater volume of water at a much greater speed.